Cleaning utensil

ABSTRACT

Cleaning utensil is a cleaning tool which can be used for both dry and wet applications with sweeping and mopping. The cleaning utensil includes a rod, a tail end of which is provided with a pair of clamping members, with one clamping member being fixed at an upper edge of tail end of rod, and the other clamping member being transfixed into a hollow foaming material. Two ends of clamping members are fixed with a fixing device, such that the foaming material can be fixed between the two clamping members, thereby increasing a contact area with a floor through the foaming material, so as to achieve an efficient cleaning effect. In addition, as the foaming material is provide with a water-absorption feature, it can be applied to dry and wet cleaning, thereby enabling the cleaning utensil to be used for both the dry and wet applications with sweeping and mopping.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a cleaning utensil and moreparticularly to a cleaning utensil which can be used for both dryapplication with sweeping and wet application with mopping.

(b) Description of the Prior Art

It is well known that indispensable cleaning appliances used in anordinary family include a broom and a mop, wherein the broom is used tosweep off garbage and dusts on a floor and the mop is used to clean dirton the floor.

However, during a process of cleaning the floor, a user should first usea broom to clean up the floor, and then damp the mop to clean the dirton the floor, which is rather inconvenient in usage and also requires apurchase of one broom and one mop; hence bringing an extremeinconvenience to the user.

Accordingly, there was a vendor who has assembled the two tools togetherseveral years ago, forming a multi-function cleaning mop having both afunction of sweeping and a function of mopping. For example, in TaiwanUtility Patent 035427, the invention includes primarily a handle bar, atop of which is installed with a mop fixing seat capable of loading andunloading a unit of cleaning tool of various purposes, and which issheathed into a moveable handle sleeve having a supporting seat forsupporting; a pressing rod; a stop piece to fix a tail end of moveablepush rod; and a pair of squeezing cylinders which are separately locatedon a top end of the pressing rod and the moveable push rod, and aretightly fastened between each other with springs, thereby assemblinginto a moveable drainage device by squeezing.

However, in this method, the unit of cleaning tool should be formed inadvance and then installed on the fixing seat, in order to be squeezedthrough the squeezing cylinders, so as to enable the unit of cleaningtool to achieve an effect of drainage by squeezing. This method has acomplicated structure and a high cost. Furthermore, a contact area ofthe unit of cleaning tool with the floor is limited, which disables auser to efficiently achieve the effect of cleaning in usage.

Accordingly, another vendor has created an improved structure ofcleaning rag which can be used for both dry and wet applications.Referring to Taiwan Utility Patent M242170, the invention includesprimarily a wiping layer, a water-absorption layer, and a water-prooflayer, wherein the wider and bottom wiping layer belongs to a non-wovenfabric in a shape of mesh, the middle water-absorption layer, which isin a shape of long sheet, belongs to a water-affinity fiber cotton andis correspondingly stacked on a top center position of the wiping layer,and the water-proof layer, which is in a shape of long sheet, is coveredon a top surface of the water-absorption layer. In addition, an adhesiveband is glued between two side edges of the water-proof layer and a topsurface of the wiping layer, a plurality of rows of folding lines isrolled between the water-proof layer and the water-absorption layer, andthe three-layer cleaning rag in a shape of continuous and long sheet iscut into a pre-determined length.

Although the aforementioned product is provided with a convenience inreplacing, and can effectively increase a contact area with the floor, amanufacturing of three-layer cleaning rag is rather troublesome, and aneffect of water absorption is not perfect; hence, the water can beeasily escaped while mopping the floor. Therefore, the rag should becontinuously damped to effectively achieve an effect of mopping thefloor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is to provide a cleaning utensilcomprising a rod, a tail end of which is installed with a pair ofclamping members with one clamping member being fixed at an upper edgeof tail end of the rod, and the other clamping member being transfixedinto a hollow foaming material. In the mean time, two ends of theclamping members are fixed with fixing devices, so as to fix the foamingmaterial between the two clamping members, thereby increasing a contactarea with the floor through the foaming material, and achieving aneffective cleaning function. Furthermore, as the foaming material isprovided with a water-absorption feature, it can be used for both dryand wet applications, thereby enabling the cleaning utensil to beapplied to the dry and wet cleaning with mopping and sweeping.

The primary object of present invention is to provide a cleaning utensilwhich includes a hollow foaming material being installed at an exteriorside of a clamping member, with an inner diameter of hollow space offoaming material greater than an outer diameter of the clamping member,therefore, a deformation will be created when the foaming material istouched with a floor, thereby enlarging a contact area with the floor,so as to achieve a more effective cleaning function. In addition, thepresent invention has a simple structure, thereby being able toeffectively reduce a cost in manufacturing.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning utensilwhich includes a foaming material having a water-absorption feature.Therefore, when the foaming material is in a dry condition, it can beused as a broom; whereas after it absorbs water, it can be used as amop.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaningutensil wherein two clamping members are fixed with fixing devices, suchthat they can be quickly dismantled, thereby achieving an effect ofreplacing the foaming material.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaningutensil wherein the foaming material can be fixed between the twoclamping members in segments, so as to create an eccentric phenomenonfor the foaming material during clamping, thereby facilitating cleaningon a non-smooth floor.

To enable a further understanding of the said objectives and thetechnological methods of the invention herein, the brief description ofthe drawings below is followed by the detailed description of thepreferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows another plan view of a first embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 shows a plan view of a second embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of a working status of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 shows a plan view of a third embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, a cleaning utensil is primarily composed of rod 10,a tail end of which is installed with a pair of clamping members, with afirst clamping member 20 being fixed at an upper edge of tail end of rod10, and a second clamping member 30 being transfixed into a hollowfoaming material 40. An inner diameter of the foaming material 40 isgreater than an outer diameter of the second clamping member 30, andboth ends of the clamping members 20, 30 are fixed with fixing devices.In the present embodiment, the fixing device is a rotatable clip ring 50which is installed on two ends of the first clamping member 20, suchthat the clip ring 50 can be rotated on the first clamping member 20 andin turn installed at a lower end of the second clamping member 30,thereby enabling the foaming material 40 to be effectively clippedbetween the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30.

Referring to FIG. 2, when the foaming material 40 is clipped between thefirst clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30, as thefoaming material 40 is compressible, a deformation between the firstclamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30 is created for thefoaming, such that the foaming material 40 is tightly clipped betweenthe first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30. Inaddition, as the inner diameter of foaming material 40 is greater thanthe outer diameter of second clamping member 30, a hollow part of thefoaming material 40 will be compressed and deformed (which will bedescribed hereafter) when the foaming material 40 is touched with afloor, so as to enlarge a contact area of the foaming material 40 withthe floor, thereby more efficiently achieving an effect of cleaning thefloor.

Moreover, as the foaming material 40 is provided with a water-absorptionfeature, when the foaming material 40 is in a dry condition, the entirecleaning utensil can be used as a broom; whereas after the foamingmaterial 40 is damped, the entire cleaning utensil can be used as a mop.On the other hand, the present invention is composed of a rod 10, twoclamping members 20, 30, a foaming material 40, and a fixing device;therefore, it has a very simple structure, thereby being able toeffectively reduce a cost in manufacturing.

In the mean time, the foaming material 40 is clipped between the firstclamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30 through the fixingdevice which is essentially a rotatable clip ring 50 installed on thefirst clamping member 20. By clipping the clip ring 50 to the lower endof second clamping member 30, the foaming material 40 can be clipped andfixed, thereby providing a user to easily rotate the clip ring 50 toachieve an object of replacing the foaming material 40, which is veryconvenient in usage.

In addition, referring to FIG. 3, it shows another embodiment of presentinvention. In this embodiment, a ball screw 21 is located at a lower endof first clamping member 20, and a through-hole 31 is located on thesecond clamping member 30, at a position corresponding to that of theball screw 21, such that the second clamping member 30 can be transfixedon the ball screw 21, and the second clamping member 30 can perform anaxial movement along the ball screw 21, after using a lock member 60 tolock on the ball screw 21 below the second clamping member 30. Twofoaming materials 40 are separately installed between the first clampingmember 20 and the second clamping member 30 at two sides of the ballscrew 21, and then the clip rings 50 are clipped on side edges of thefirst clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30, therebyenabling two foaming materials 40 to be separately clipped between thefirst clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30. As the innerdiameter of foaming material 40 is greater than the outer diameter ofsecond clamping member 30, when the two foaming materials 40 areseparately clipped between the first clamping member 20 and the secondclamping member 30, they can be clipped in an eccentric way, therebyforming a dislocated manner in clipping on the first clamping member 20and the second clamping member 30, which will facilitate cleaning on anon-smooth floor.

Referring to FIG. 4, when the foaming material 40 is clipped between thefirst clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30, as the innerdiameter of foaming material 40 is greater than the outer diameter ofsecond clamping member 30, the hollow part of foaming material will becompressed and deformed, upon forcing the foaming material 40 on a floor70. Therefore, a contact area of the foaming material 40 with the floor70 will be increased, and the greater the pressure is, the larger thecontact area of foaming material 40 with the floor 70 is. On thecontrary, the smaller the pressure is, the smaller the contact area withthe floor 70 is. Accordingly, a user can be more efficiently performingcleaning the floor, and the contact area can be changed according to asize of pressure exerted.

Referring to FIG. 5, it shows a third embodiment of present invention.In this embodiment, lock holes 22, 32 are separately located at endedges of the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30,and a bolt 80 is locked on the lock holes 22, 32 of first clampingmember 20 and second clamping member 30, so as to achieve a clippingeffect for the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member30, thereby enabling the foaming material 40 to be more firmly clippedbetween the first clamping member 20 and the second clamping member 30.

It is of course to be understood that the embodiments described hereinis merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and that awide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by persons skilledin the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventionas set forth in the following claims.

1. A cleaning assembly comprising a rod, a tail end of which isinstalled with a pair of clamping members, with one clamping memberbeing fixed at the tail end of rod, the other clamping member beingtransfixed into a hollow foaming material, and both clamping membersbeing fixed with fixing devices.
 2. The cleaning assembly according toclaim 1, wherein an inner diameter of the hollow foaming material isgreater than an outer diameter of the clamping member.
 3. The cleaningassembly according to claim 1, wherein the fixing device is essentiallya rotatable clip ring located at two sides of clamping member fixed onthe rod, such that the clip ring can be rotated on the clamping memberand can be further installed at a lower end of clamping membertransfixed in a center of foaming material.
 4. The cleaning assemblyaccording to claim 1, wherein a ball screw is located at a lower end ofclamping member fixed at the tail end of rod, and a through-hole islocated on the clamping member transfixed in a center of foamingmaterial, at a position corresponding to that of ball screw, such thatthe clamping member can be transfixed on the ball screw, followed byusing a lock member to lock onto the ball screw.
 5. The cleaningassembly according to claim 1, wherein the fixing device furtherincludes lock holes separately located at end edges of two clampingmembers, followed by using a bolt to lock into the lock holes ofclamping members.
 6. The cleaning assembly according to claim 1, whereinthe foaming material is fixed between the two clamping members insegments.